Southern California High School Basketball Championships : Point Loma Title Quest Begins Thursday

The Point Loma High School girls’ basketball team (31-0) will begin its quest for a fourth consecutive state championship when it meets either Hanford High or Los Angeles Kennedy in a semifinal game of the Division I Southern Regional Thursday night at Serra High.

Other Southern Regional pairings announced Sunday night include Morse, the San Diego Section 3-A boys’ champion, meeting Santa Monica in a first-round Division I game Tuesday night in San Diego State’s Peterson Gym.

Point Loma, which won the Division II state title in 1984 and the Division I title the last two seasons, put away its fourth San Diego Section championship Saturday night with a 52-39 victory over Vista.

Hanford (18-6), a school located in the San Joaquin Valley, and Kennedy (22-3) will meet in a first-round game Tuesday night at Granada Hills High School. The winner plays Point Loma, which is seeded first and has a bye in the first round. If Point Loma wins, it will travel to the Los Angeles Sports Arena for the Southern Regional Final on Saturday. Huntington Beach Edison (30-1), seeded second, is favored in the other bracket.

The State Championships will be played in Oakland March 21.

Morse (22-2) beat Monte Vista, 59-51, Saturday to reach the state playoffs and will meet Santa Monica (18-9), a team that won the Southern Section 4-A title. The winner Tuesday meets No. 1-seeded Fairfax (25-0) at Santa Monica City College Thursday.

Oceanside (21-7), the San Diego Section 2-A boys’ champion, travels to Canyon Country Wednesday to meet Saugus (22-9) in a Division II Southern Regional game at Masters College. Oceanside, which beat El Camino, 53-51, Saturday to advance to the state playoffs, has won 20 of its last 22 games.

Saugus is also on a run coming into the state playoffs. The Centurions, a wild-card entry in the Southern Section 3-A playoffs, won five straight games to advance. Included in Saugus’ victories was a victory over Rolling Hills High, the No. 1-ranked Division II team in the state.

Fresno Washington (25-3) is the top-seeded team in the boys’ Division II Southern Regional. Washington plays host to Irvine Woodbridge (25-5) in the semifinals.

In the girls’ Division II playoffs, San Diego Section champion La Jolla (18-5) meets second-seeded Cerritos Valley Christian (25-2) at Cerritos High School in a semifinal Wednesday night. The other semifinal features No. 1-seeded Lompoc (26-2) against Chowchilla (19-5).

In the Division III boys’ Southern Regional, Calipatria High (22-1), the San Diego Section champion, is seeded second and will meet Whitney High (24-2) in a semifinal game at Central High in El Centro. In the other first-round game, No. 1-seeded Santa Monica Crossroads (22-5) meets Riverdale (20-6).

In the girls’ Division III playoffs, San Diego Section champion Calvin Christian takes on Woodlake High of the San Joaquin Valley. The semifinal game will be played at Redwood High School in Visalia Wednesday night.